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Season’s Change
By Jessica Marie Baumgartner
The wind blows high in a tall pin
oak. One of the leaves find his voice and speaks over the shift of the
breeze.
“I have always loved a cool draft. Maybe it will bring my turn. Who
knows? The days are growing short and mine are numbered, but I’ve
always wondered what that one and only glide down would be like.”
“But aren’t you afraid,” a bird nestles close with curiosity. She is a
well acquainted neighbor of the old leaf. “We were both born this past
spring, and I fear the end.”
“Ah my winged friend, I may not have a life like yours. No heart beats
within this thin frame, but I was born lush and green just hanging on
like the rest. We grew together, but I have aged beyond you based on my
short life. You will last through the harsh seasons and live on. It is
not so for my kind, each of us must now dry up, and then wither to make
way for the new lives that will bud next spring.”
“How do you even know that this tree will make it through the winter?”
With a crinkle the dry leaf laughs, “That’s the beauty of it. I don’t.”
“So you’re not concerned that you could be letting go in vain?” A
ruffle of feathers displays the chill that this idea instigates.
“Not at all, you have missed my point. I have grown in spring, shaded
through summer, and earned new colors this fall. What more could I ask
for? That great ride down, that last adventure, is all that any of us
could ever want.”
A moan announces another wave of air and the leaf is gone.
THE END
© 2015 Jessica Marie Baumgartner
Bio: Jessica is a
staff member of Quantummuse, where her stories have been featured, in
addition to having pieces published by Hellfire Crossroads, Walrus
Publishing and others. Her Paranormal Romance novelette, Tale of Two
Bookends is to be released later this year, and her children’s book
about religious diversity and acceptance, My Family Is Different, has
been breaking boundaries. You can find her website here: http://jessicamariebaumgartner.com/
E-mail: Jessica
Marie Baumgartner
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